Law enforcement responded to Vadnais-Sucker Lake Regional Park in Vadnais Heights Friday afternoon in response to a welfare check requested on the woman and children, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Rescue and recovery teams search Lake Vadnais in Minnesota for the body of a child and mother after the bodies of two other children were found, July 2, 2022.
Andrea Lyons/KSTP
The woman’s car and items, including the children’s shoes, were found at the scene, prompting deputies and officers to close the park and begin searching the area and the water, the sheriff’s office said.
The first child was pulled from the lake around 7:30 Friday afternoon and pronounced dead after life-saving measures, authorities said. The second child was located around midnight and pronounced dead. Responders continued to search for the remaining child and woman until 3 a.m
The search continued at 6 a.m. Saturday. The woman was located around 10:40 a.m. and the third child about 20 minutes later, the sheriff’s office said. Both were pronounced dead.
All three children — two boys and a girl — are believed to be under the age of 6. The Ramsey County Coroner will release the names of the four found and the manner and cause of their deaths at a later date.
“There is nothing more tragic than the loss of children,” Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told reporters Friday, saying responders would search “into the night.”
Friends and family gather at Vadnais Lake after news that a dead child was pulled from the lake, July 1, 2022 in Vadnais Heights, Minn.
Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP
Distraught family and friends had gathered outside the police perimeter as the search was underway Friday, ABC affiliate KSTP in Saint Paul, Minnesota, reported.
The welfare check on the lake is believed to be connected to another death investigation in a nearby town in Ramsey County, the sheriff’s office said. On Friday morning, Maplewood police and firefighters who responded to a report of a possible suicide in a residential area found a man dead at the scene.
After responding to that report, authorities then began searching for the mother and three children, eventually tracking the mother’s cell phone in the lake, Ramsey County Undersheriff Mike Martin told reporters during a briefing Saturday.
“Our hearts go out to the families involved here and their friends,” Martin said. “Our aim was to find the children and the mother and return them to their families and we are delighted to have succeeded.”
No further information was released about the relationship between the two death investigations.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are worried about a friend or loved one, there is help available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
